Public and private spaces and everything in between

The Web strives to be universal
through independence of many factors.

You freedom to use the Web shouldn’t be influenced by:

• technological concerns
  • hardware
  • software
  • network access
  • …
• personal concerns
  • language
  • culture
  • disability
  • …

The Web brings freedom of expression
to everyone across the world.

• Anyone can say anything about anything.
• We all have our own spaces,
  so we don’t have to agree.
• We can link to opinions of others
  to discuss about them.

The Web brings permissionless innovation
at an unprecedented scale.

• Anyone can build anything for any reason.
• You don’t need anyone’s permission
  to join the Web and launch a new idea.
  • This contrasts with app stores,
    where your app has to be approved
    and you have to share your revenues.

Ironically, permissionless innovation
even allows platforms that prevent it.

The Facebook founder has no intention of
allowing anyone to build anything on his platform
that does not have his express approval.

Having profited mightily from the Web’s openness,
he has kicked away the ladder that elevated him
to his current eminence.

John Naughton, The Guardian

You can choose where you store
every single piece of data you produce.

You can grant apps and people access
to very specific parts of your data.

Separating app and storage competition
drives permissionless innovation.

Linked Data in the RDF model
solves crucial challenges for Solid.

• If we all store our own data,
  how do we connect it to others’ data?
• How can apps share data,
  without too many prior agreements?
• How do we integrate data
  from multiple data pods?

With RDF, every piece of data
can link to any other piece of data.

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "id":        "#ruben-likes-kb2019",
  "type":      "Like",
  "actor":     "https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me",
  "object":    "https://www.kb.nl/nieuws/2019/kb-sessie-heruitvinden-van-de-digitale-publieke-ruimte#event",
  "published": "2019-11-12T13:00:00Z"
}

Data shapes and their semantics
enable layered compatibility.

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "id":        "#ruben-likes-kb2019",
  "type":      "Like",
  "actor":     "https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me",
  "object":    "https://www.kb.nl/nieuws/2019/kb-sessie-heruitvinden-van-de-digitale-publieke-ruimte#event",
  "published": "2019-11-12T13:00:00Z"
}

Different source data
can be concatenated.

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "@graph": [{
    "type":      "Like",
    "actor":     "https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me",
    "object":    "https://www.kb.nl/nieuws/2019/kb-sessie-heruitvinden-van-de-digitale-publieke-ruimte#event",
    "published": "2019-11-12T13:00:00Z"
  },{
    "type":      "Like",
    "actor":     "https://example.org/people/ronald#me",
    "object":    "https://www.kb.nl/nieuws/2019/kb-sessie-heruitvinden-van-de-digitale-publieke-ruimte#event",
    "published": "2019-11-12T15:05:00Z"
  }]
}

Solid is not a company or organisation.
Solid is not (just) software.

• Solid is an ecosystem.
  • Standards explain how different instances interoperate.
• Solid is a movement.
  • We’re shifting the mindset on how to build apps.
• Solid is a community.
  • Different people, companies, and organisations build it.

Anyone can build or host
software for Solid.

• You can have a server at home
  or at your workplace.
  • Open-source implementations are available.
• You can rent server space
  or even dedicated Solid space.
• You can use one of the
  free community servers.

The Solid server acts as a data pod
that stores and guards your data.

• Your Solid data pod is a regular Web server.
  • with support for access control
  • with support for Linked Data
• Your Solid data pod is application-agnostic.
  • You can build any application.
  • All application-specific logic resides in clients.
• Your Solid data pod is like your website.
  • Yet your data can be opened with all apps you want.

A typical data pod can contain
any data you create or need online.

• profile 👤
• photos 🖼
• comments 🗣
• likes 👍
• … ✨

Solid clients are browser or native apps
that read from or write to your data pod.

• You give apps permission to parts of your pod.
  • You can choose very precisely what they can access.
• Friends give you permission to parts of their pod.
  • They can choose very precisely what you can access.
• Apps build a unified experience with all that data.
  • Browse your friends’ pictures along with yours.

Any service you can envision,
you can build with Solid.

• calendar 📅
• social feed 👥
• photo sharing 📸
• … ✨

The Solid server and several apps exist
and are usable for developers.

• Solid server
  • store your data online with access control
  • free storage at solid.community and inrupt.net
• apps
  • data browser
  • contacts
  • photos
  • meeting organizer
  • …
• libraries
  • authentication
  • data processing
  • …

Solid is transitioning from research project
into an ecosystem backed by start-ups.

• MIT has been our home
  • initial development of server and apps
• Inrupt is accelerating development
  • open up the ecosystem for all
  • maintain common building blocks as open source
  • create tooling for developers
  • offer services and apps

PublicSpaces captures principles
to serve the common interest.

• Open
• Transparent
• Accountable
• Sovereign
• User Centric

PublicSpaces principle: Open

• The software ecosystem is equally accessible
  to any person, network or organisation.
• The software ecosystem operates independently
  from any government, commercial
  or particular political influence.

PublicSpaces principle: Transparent

• The used technology is fully accessible
  and reviewable.
• Governance of the software ecosystem
  will be fully reviewable.

PublicSpaces principle: Accountable

• Users are verified and provenance of content
  can be fully disclosed.
• The ecosystem offers the highest possible guarantee
  of protection of data—both of content and users.
• The software ecosystem does not hold or own
  any personal data of its users.
• Governance of the software ecosystem is bound by
  the founding statutes that guarantee independence
  of commercial and political influences.

PublicSpaces principle: Sovereign

• Users are not products—
  the wellbeing and empowerment of users
  will always be the primary concern.
• Users have full control over
  their personal data,
  their content and interactions.

PublicSpaces principle: User Centric

• The software ecosystem employs
  privacy by design
  as a basic design principle.
• The software ecosystem uses the tenets of
  the Time well spent movement
  as guidelines for any implementation.